Safety Agency Widens Inquiry into Repairs of Rental Cars

In an expansion of its investigation into whether millions of rental cars are repaired quickly enough, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding that major rental car companies quickly provide detailed information about their safety operations.

The investigation began late last year with the agency saying it was troubled by reports of injuries and deaths in unrepaired rental cars.

The agency does not have the authority to force rental car companies to repair vehicles any more than it can force consumers to do so. But N.H.T.S.A. has said it expected “the rental car companies to provide safe cars to their customers by submitting the recalled vehicles to the appropriate manufacturers for the appropriate safety repairs in a timely fashion.”